Dateline: New JerseyA runner was struck by a deer while participating in a half-marathon, but still managed to finish the race. According to Asbury Park Press, Christina Sanchez was on mile 10 of a 13-mile Jersey Shore half-marathon when she was hit by the deer. She told reporters that she was listening to ’90s alt-rock and feeling positive when a “blur of brown and white fur” came out of the woods and struck her. She says the animal was taller than five feet and had antlers. As she laid on the ground, the buck launched itself off of her leg and into some brush near the road. After being helped by fellow runners and paramedics, Sanchez was sure that none of her bones were broken. She decided to finish the marathon and crossed the finish line only 10 minutes slower than her goal. Daphne Yun, spokesperson for the National Park Service and Sandy Hook confirmed the incident and said she’d never heard of another like it.Dateline: SwedenA new museum in Malmo, Sweden, wants to make its visitors sick. The Washington Post reports the Disgusting Food Museum gives tourists vomit bags instead of tickets as they enter its doors. On exhibit are the world’s stinkiest cheese, the noni—nicknamed “vomit fruit” because of its terrible smell—and free samples of fermented shark meat. Museum founder Samuel West says he began the collection to point out that disgust is a cultural construct. He told reporters he wants guests to question their cultural biases while they witness tree-ant larvae eaten in Mexico, cod sperm eaten in Japan or bird’s nest soup—made from actual nests and bird saliva. Also included in the collection are American delicacies described as “disgusting” by other cultures, like Spam, Twinkies, Pop-Tarts, root beer and bull testicles. Of the approximately 80 displays in the museum, an equal number are from Asia as from Europe. There are more foods from China included than from any other country, followed by the United States. Dateline: EnglandThe Chelsea Football Club in London is offering to send anti-Semitic fans to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz instead of banning them from games. Team chairman Bruce Buck told The Sun that instead of banning fans caught participating in anti-Semitic behavior, the club will offer offenders a chance to take an educational trip to Auschwitz, where they will learn about the atrocities committed there. Buck told reporters, “If you just ban people, you will never change their behaviour. This policy gives them the chance to realize what they have done, to make them want to behave better.” The club also hosts the Say No to Anti-Semitism program, offering personal education courses. Last year, the club denounced fans who sang an anti-Semitic song during a game with Tottenham and asked that they cease repeating the chant. The team has struggled with racism amongst fans in the past, like the 2015 incident in which a number of Chelsea fans were filmed blocking a black man from entering a London train while chanting, “We’re racist, we’re racist, and that’s the way we like it.”Dateline: IndiaAirport security in India have been told to smile less by their superiors. The Indian Express reports the Central Industrial Security Force, which operates security in 60 Indian airports, told its staff to be “more vigilant than friendly.” They will now reportedly move from a “broad smile” system to a “sufficient smile system.” Air security officials said they believe excessive friendliness might endanger airports by making security seem lax and exposing them to threats of terrorist attack. During a press conference, Rajesh Ranjan, director general of CISF, said the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center took place because of “an excessive reliance on passenger-friendly features where security personnel went out of the way to ensure that the passenger is facilitated, thereby compromising on security.” Ranjan said friendly smiles were good, but the focus should be on security. He also said the CISF would be installing body scanners and outfitting personnel with bodycams. CISF personnel are also getting training on behavioral analysis and crisis management.Dateline: VirginiaIn some Virginia towns, anyone over the age of 12 caught trick-or-treating could face fines and even 6 months in jail. According to HR Scene in Virginia, Chesapeake city code prohibits anyone 13 and older from participating in trick-or-treating “or any other activity of similar character or nature under any name whatsoever.” Anyone caught engaging in the misdemeanor offense is punishable “by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100 or by confinement in jail for not more than six months or both.” The city code also stipulates that any person of any age caught trick-or-treating after 8pm is guilty of a misdemeanor carrying a penalty of a fine between $10 and $100 “or by confinement in jail for not more than 30 days or both.” But Chesapeake isn’t the only Virginia city with strict Halloween laws, though. Many include steep penalties for trick-or-treaters over 12, including Newport, Portsmouth, Suffolk and others.
Compiled by Joshua Lee. Email your weird news to josh@alibi.com.
